(Doug Esse) Some of you have never heard of the Law of One, and some of you have never heard of Teilhard de Chardin. Until this article, the two camps have never really met. This is not because there is inherent hostility, it is rather that neither knew about the other.
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by Doug Esse, February 9th, 2020
This brief article will outline some of the commonalities in order to show that the Spirit has been breaking in and the Great Shift towards a singularity, or Teilhard’s “Omega Point”, is very much underway. I contend that Teilhard was way ahead of his time in intuiting the future of humanity which when one reads the Law of One material, it is clear he is talking about the fourth density and its formation of the social-memory-complex. It gives me great joy to see that Teilhard’s writings and spirit are being “resurrected” in recent times because people are resonating with the amazing insights he put together. They are seeing his insights unfold in daily life and in other spheres of knowledge like science, psychology, theology, and spirituality studies.
Some Personal Background
Just a little background: I grew up in the Catholic Church and like any religious institution, I found ideas that appealed to dualistic thinkers and nondual thinkers alike. Dogma and doctrine were important to me when I was at the psycho-spiritual stage that appreciated structure and definition many years ago. As time went on, my mystical nature gravitated towards desiring experiential knowledge (gnosis) with the divine. Other mystics, some of whom have been canonized as saints by the Catholic Church, emerged as sisters and brothers to me and acted as sign posts, affirming my own explorations into living out a life of faith.
My greatest companion on the journey as been my mentor and friend, Richard Rohr, OFM. Richard’s own spiritual journey and courage to write what he does has helped me to trust my own intuition and journey. Cynthia Bourgeault is another giant in my life who introduced me to Centering Prayer. Both of these presences in my life helped me to be able to connect more deeply with Teilhard’s thinking. Then, when I was led to the Law of One material in 2013, I was not scared of what was in it because I was already prepared for the big picture contained therein. And wow… what a big picture!
After an initial awakening experience in April, 2013, I have endeavored to live in the constructive tension between the exoteric and the esoteric understandings of Christ and the larger Cosmos. I do not have answers. I only have evolving reflections. I try to approach everything with both an open mind and skepticism. I desire to serve others and live with integrity. The words, “balanced,” “both/and,” “grounded,” and “apparent paradox” mean a lot to me.
I have lived for a few years in Latin America including Mexico, Nicaragua, and El Salvador during my twenties. I earned a masters degree in clinical social work and a masters in pastoral ministry from a large university in the northeast. For the past twenty years, I’ve worked as a mental health counselor for different organizations. Currently, I work part-time at a local university in the Dallas (Texas) area and have a private counseling practice.
Spiral Dynamics
Secondly, for a clarifying perspective , I appeal to the wisdom of Spiral Dynamics and its outlining of the different levels of consciousness that build upon each other. I cannot give a detailed presentation in this article for sake of brevity but a cursory exploration is warranted.
Emerging from the psychological world, Spiral Dynamics tracks the growth of human pycho-emotional-spiritual development both at the individual and collective levels. One level builds upon the other and each level represents a strong gravity center for a way to view the world and ourselves. The structure of Spiral Dynamics contains two tiers in spiral-vertical fashion. Each tier contains levels of value systems. Each value system is a valid and robust reality paradigm from which people understand themselves, the world, politics, religions, cultures, etc. The edges of each level blur, overlap, and often contain great conflict and inner turmoil.
In fact, conflict and turmoil are quite normal within in the first tier of Spiral Dynamics. Each level considers itself to contain the whole truth and finds total validation for its view of reality. Moreover, within the first tier, one is not aware at all that there are different levels. People just think that how they see things is the right way to see them and anyone else who can’t see as they can is simply wrong. Most of the world’s wars and conflicts, argue Spiral Dynamic teachers, are the result of different levels fighting each other for relevance and dominance, all the while unaware of the big picture; that their viewpoint is simply a view from one point upon a spectrum of conscious awareness.
Any level above is held in great suspect and is considered irrelevant, dangerous, progressive, aloof, noncomformist, naive, etc. Any level below is viewed as reactive, fear-based, ignorant, overly simplistic, tribal, and too dualistic. The truth is that dualism is highly prevalent in the first tier of Spiral Dynamics because each level sees its viewpoint as the only valid point and at best tolerates other viewpoints. At worst, the desire to eradicate other viewpoints runs the show.
The second tier of Spiral Dynamics is very hard to get to. It requires several dark nights of the soul so that one is brought down to the knees, so to speak, and invited to surrender their knowing while fully accepting their unknowing. In other words, what made sense then no longer makes total sense now. This kind of spiritual and psychological suffering or angst is true, in fact, for any progression up the rungs on the Spiral Dynamic ladder. But what sets the transition from the first tier to the second tier apart is that the “lower” levels are not held in contempt anymore but rather as taken as necessary. A “both-and” ethos really takes hold in the transition between the two tiers and this new acceptance for all viewpoints is both freeing and lonely. Freeing because it feels good, right, and light to not have to define oneself within a particular viewpoint which always entails some sort of defensive posturing against levels below and above. But it is also lonely because the majority of one’s friends and family will be operating in the lower tier. You don’t make sense to them anymore even while you accept them more than ever. You begin to realize that like Jesus, you have no real place to lay your head (home base). However, the payoff for arriving at the shore of the second tier is truly exciting because now you intuit, as Teilhard did so many decades ago, that there is an underlying unity contained in a matrix of love. This ceases to be a head trip or belong to the realm of ideas only. It emerges as a lived, experiential reality–as a gnosis, that is yours.
Most of the worlds religions are prominently first tier institutions even if the person(s) at their epicenters were fully second tier teachers. It takes a lot of time for a group to grow up but for those with the eyes and heart to sense it, there are threads within each religion that lead right back to full integration with our divine source. If a religion is doing its job right, it can lead people to unitive consciousness. However, it is true that much of religion and religious institutions operate from early-level bandwidths (read “lower levels on Spiral Dynamics”) and so do their leaders. The irony here is that even though religion, or re-ligio, means to “re-attach” to Truth and Source, it can often be the very thing that gets in the way.
Now back to Teilhard. Like most religions, Christianity emerged within the middle of the first tier in Spiral Dynamics. At the time he was alive and produced his great works, the Catholic Church was solidly “Blue.” The following is taken from an amazing website: www.spiraldynamicsintegral.nl. Here are the general characteristics of the Blue value system:
- Values and norms, discipline, duty, regularity, and feelings of honor and guilt
- WE versus They Thinking
- Searching for meaning, order, routine and security
- Self-control, discipline and loyalty to the doctrine and the rules
- Absolute, literal and definite
- Morality
- Hierarchy, obedience and willing to sacrifice to a greater cause
- Control and structures of authorities
- Obedience based on a sense of duty and a sense of guilt
- Organize, manage, concretize, and structure
- Values effort and responsibility and shows discipline
- Rules, rights and duties are significant
Teilhard was born into the Blue value system in both his culture and religion but from an early age, he intuited a bigger picture. When he wrote about them, he was silenced by the Catholic Church and his “superiors” found him dangerous. How lonely that must have been, but he continued to follow his vocation and blast through right on into the second tier. His ideas were a full four levels above the general Blue-centric ideology of the Catholic Church and his French culture. This is amazing considering that the Spiral Dynamic model contends that on a good day when a person is really centered and grounded, they can at least slightly understand the ideas of 1.5 levels above them. They won’t stay there for long, but the rare state of feeling grounded can provide a foundation to at least acknowledge that the truth that they have lived by is much larger than they have known.
Figures like Teilhard, Cynthia Bourgeault, and Richard Rohr, are cultural and religious bridge builders between the first and second tiers of Spiral Dynamics. See here the value system of the Yellow, the first level of the second tier:
CONTINUE READING @ cosmicchrist.net
Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
Consciousness is one of the most mysterious phenomena of all time. Scientists, philosophers, and mystics have been searching for the answer to the question, What is Consciousness? for most of human history. In modern times, the spiritual origins of consciousness are being replaced with a materialistic view, that awareness emerges as an additive property of electrical impulses in living things. Despite the fact this theory is assumed to be true, any self-respecting psychologist will tell you we have no idea what consciousness really is. The preceding article discusses consciousness, some of its properties, and possible origins. This is helpful to contemplate because, in the act of trying to understand the mysteries of consciousness, you develop critical thinking skills and stimulate your philosophic muscles, both which are immensely important for almost everything we do in life. Additionally, you’ll develop abstract thinking skills, the ability to explore intangible realities that govern material realms. With the power of an active mind capable of navigating the realities of consciousness, great leaps in personal attainment can be made along with preparing you for the Great Work of making this world a better place.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammatical mistake? Send an email to [email protected], with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for reading.
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